Results 241-260 of 19,445 for speaker:Brian Cowen

Leaders' Questions (12 Jan 2011)

Brian Cowen: -----probably more than one. It does not matter. If Deputies want to attach suspicion to what I did, which is what my predecessors would have done when attending such meetings, that is fair enough and we will all know the double standards being applied. At no stage did we do anything inappropriate. Everything we did we believed was in the best interests of our country in the context of...

Leaders' Questions (12 Jan 2011)

Brian Cowen: This is an absurd sense of puritanism that we need to avoid. I want to make it clear again that nothing untoward was done at any time. Regarding the specific call Deputy Kenny mentioned, I was away at the time. Before I took the call, I spoke to the Central Bank Governor. I also spoke to him afterwards. There was a meeting between him and the Financial Regulator the next day in his...

Leaders' Questions (12 Jan 2011)

Brian Cowen: I will answer the Deputy directly. First of all, the difficulties we are facing in the economy, the cutbacks in expenditure and the tax increases with which we have to contend relate to the economic situation we are in, which relates to the economy itself, namely, the difference between what we are spending and what we are earning. As difficult as dealing with both this situation and the...

Leaders' Questions (12 Jan 2011)

Brian Cowen: I wish to answer the Deputy's questions specifically. I apologise if I have been a bit expansive but I wanted to set out the full situation because I have to defend the good name of my party too in all of this and the good name of the Government and its motivations in this area because it has been continuously attacked.

Leaders' Questions (12 Jan 2011)

Brian Cowen: Yes. With regard to this golf outing, I know for a fact that if I could say, "Yes, we might have discussed something at some particular hole", the Deputy would find that more believable than if I decided not to do so. All I can do is tell the Deputy the truth and I cannot make it up for him. I am telling the Deputy we did not discuss Anglo Irish Bank business-----

Leaders' Questions (12 Jan 2011)

Brian Cowen: At all. The Deputy can be as smart and as smarmy and as cynical as he likes. I can only tell him the truth and that is the answer to that question.

Leaders' Questions (12 Jan 2011)

Brian Cowen: The Deputy can ask a question but he need not throw up his eyes when I answer it. The Deputy's second question was about the dinner. Other Deputies on Deputy Gilmore's side of the House have attended such dinners-----

Leaders' Questions (12 Jan 2011)

Brian Cowen: -----and they will tell Deputy Gilmore the context of such dinners.

Leaders' Questions (12 Jan 2011)

Brian Cowen: I suggest Deputy Quinn may want to read the reports. The responsibility for the situation can be spread wide-----

Leaders' Questions (12 Jan 2011)

Brian Cowen: I am not drowning.

Leaders' Questions (12 Jan 2011)

Brian Cowen: I am trying to deal with the pejorative innuendo that continually emanates from the questions asked by the Deputy and his vitriol against my party and against my philosophy, which is just as good and as decent as his. So far as I recall, there was no discussion about Anglo Irish Bank, none. I invite the Deputy to check with other people who were present and see if they back up what I am...

Leaders' Questions (12 Jan 2011)

Brian Cowen: -----and the Government legislative programme will not be prolonged in doing so. When the Finance Bill is concluded, we have indicated that during the course of the spring we will go to the people and put our case. All parties can put their case although many seem to be presuming the outcome. However, on this specific issue, on this controversy which has been created for the purpose of...

Leaders' Questions (12 Jan 2011)

Brian Cowen: In reply to the Deputy's first point about credibility, in doing one's work one meets people from all walks of life. In July 2008 I attended a golf outing with Mr. Drury. Mr. FitzPatrick was also there and I played a game of golf. It is true that when we moved indoors Deputy Ó Caoláin came over to speak to me. That was a social outing. We were joined that evening by Alan Gray, an...

Leaders' Questions (12 Jan 2011)

Brian Cowen: I do not know if the Deputy knows the song "Suspicious Minds" but I cannot help him if he believes that one starts to discuss these issues when one plays a game of golf. It was the first day off after that Dáil session. The last Cabinet meeting took place on 23 July and we probably quit on the Friday. We met on the Monday of the following week. I assure the Deputy it was a relaxing day...

Leaders' Questions (12 Jan 2011)

Brian Cowen: -----shoot the breeze or talk in a social way with people with whom I was acquainted. While it might help the Deputy to believe me if I said I discussed a lot of things relating to Anglo Irish Bank, that did not happen. I will not say it happened just because it might make me more plausible to him. I have to explain it to him the way it was and that is it. I do not want to over egg the...

Leaders' Questions (12 Jan 2011)

Brian Cowen: Clearly, the Deputy has a predisposition about what his final position will be regardless of what I say. It is a clear line for the newspapers anyway.

Leaders' Questions (12 Jan 2011)

Brian Cowen: I know it is. I suppose that is what the Deputy was sent in to say. The point is that it is easy to throw that around but I am telling him the situation as it was. He said he had a problem with what I had to say. I am telling him that this is the situation. I am aware of the perception issue and how one might be able dress it up. It is a political charge and the Deputy wants to continue...

Leaders' Questions (12 Jan 2011)

Brian Cowen: That would have been organised by Fintan Drury who organised the golf outing. It was about being able to sit down with people at the end of the day and having a chat about the economy. The Deputy will recall we had a mini-budget and saw recession on the horizon and a big slowdown in our economy. As Taoiseach, I was there chatting to see if there were ideas and to find out other people's...

Leaders' Questions (12 Jan 2011)

Brian Cowen: No. I will not say anything about where banking might have come up but it did not arise when I was present.

State Boards (12 Jan 2011)

Brian Cowen: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 5, inclusive, and 147 together. The information requested by the Deputies in regard to appointments I have made since I became Taoiseach in May 2008 is in the table. In respect of vacancies, last month I signed the National Economic and Social Council (Alteration of Composition) Order 2010 facilitating changes to the structure of the NESC to reflect the...